The Course Syllabus: Legal Contract or Operator's Manual?

Accelerating medical education with ChatGPT: an implementation guide

Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence have revolutionized many industries and fields of study, including medical education. Medical educators are increasingly asked to perform more administrative, written, and assessment functions with less time and resources. Safe use of chatbots, like ChatGPT, can help medical educators efficiently perform these functions. In this article, we provide medical educators with tips for the implementation of ChatGPT in medical education. Through creativity and careful construction of prompts, medical educators can use these and other implementations of chatbots, like ChatGPT, in their practice.

Best Practices in Syllabus Design

The syllabus is the cornerstone for directing faculty and student interaction within the didactic and experiential settings. Within each syllabus is both essential and optional information to guide students, faculty, and administration in course expectations as well as to explain how the course aligns within current curricular requirements to maintain program accreditation. Most syllabi contain a plethora of information that continues to grow each year, warranting concerns of syllabus bloat combined with dwindling student attention to syllabus detail. This paper summarizes best practices related to designing effective course syllabi and recommendations to promote clear and concise communication between students, faculty, and administrators involved in pharmacy education.

Evidence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing Syllabi: A Descriptive Analysis

BACKGROUND

Schools of nursing must produce nurses able to address the care needs of diverse populations. Within schools of nursing, faculty should intentionally construct syllabi to establish an environment of inclusivity where diversity is embraced.

METHOD

Content analysis of 81 undergraduate and graduate course syllabi from four university campuses was performed to determine explicit evidence of content on diverse populations, inclusive andragogy, and policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

RESULTS

Three quarters of terms indicative of diverse populations were found in course syllabi; all terms that provided evidence of inclusive andragogy and all DEI-related policies were identified at least once in course syllabi.

CONCLUSION

Strengths and weaknesses were identified in communicating DEI content, policies, and inclusive andragogy to students. Faculty development on best practices related to inclusion of DEI in the classroom beginning with the syllabus is the first step to ensure a more inclusive nursing workforce. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(12):665-671.].

Using technology to automate syllabus construction for programmatic, curricular, faculty and experiential assessment activities

Purpose

With a growing need to assess multiple aspects of healthcare education, the goal of this study was to develop an innovative web-based application to streamline assessment processes and meet the increasingly complex role of the educational manager.

Design/methodology/approach

AARDVARC (Automated Approach to Reviewing and Developing Valuable Assessment Resources for your Curriculum) was created with the core function of standardizing course syllabi through the use of a web-based portal and the ability to query fields within the portal to collect multiple points of data. AARDVARC permits quick and efficient gathering of programmatic, curricular, faculty, teaching, preceptor and financial data to facilitate meaningful change and a shared responsibility of assessment. This software has allowed automatic completion of complex analytics each semester, including coverage of program outcomes, course learning objectives, teaching and assessment methods, course readings, topics covered in the curriculum, faculty teaching hours, experiential activities, coverage of disease states and scheduling of peer observation of teaching.

Findings

Three years after its initial launch, AARDVARC is now used by 520 faculty, 60 staff, 44 preceptors and over 2,000 students across multiple health profession and science programs. Data analytics through AARDVARC have allowed the School to reimagine how assessment can be conducted and have provided a pathway for making evidence-based programmatic and curricular changes.

Originality/value

This original software has provided an innovative approach to conduct assessment that combines best practices in curriculum, assessment, data analytics and educational technology while improving the overall quality, speed, and efficiency of academic and business operations.

How to successfully navigate a nursing student academic/grade grievance

The challenges of managing an academic/grade grievance can be taxing on nursing faculty. Therefore, it is essential that faculty are well-equipped for these experiences. The purpose of this article is to enable nursing faculty to understand how to navigate a student academic/grade grievance. In this article, three nursing faculty with varying levels of teaching experience will share insightful information on the prevention, preparation, and processes for successfully navigating student academic/grade grievances. They will discuss steps for addressing an academic/grade grievance and lessons learned with helpful tips for nursing faculty to put into their toolbox for future use.

The Initial Impact of the Anatomical Society Gross Anatomy Core Syllabus for Medicine in the United Kingdom: Student and Teacher Perspectives

"What do students studying medicine need to know" is an important question for curriculum planners, anatomy educators and students. The Core Regional Anatomy Syllabus (CRAS), published by the Anatomical Society in 2016, contains 156 learning outcomes (LOs) and has informed "what needs to be known." This project explored how CRAS had impacted undergraduate anatomy and anatomists in the United Kingdom. A cross-sectional study was designed in two phases. Phase 1, involved a survey of students in clinical years (N = 164). Phase 2 included a survey of anatomist's views (n = 50) and focus groups of anatomy educators (N = 16). The students' perspective showed that specific regions of CRAS are deemed less relevant. These were also the body areas where students perceived their anatomical knowledge to be more deficient. Only 46% (n = 75) of students estimated that they knew over 50% (n = 78) of the LOs. Phase two revealed that all anatomists were aware of the syllabus and 48% (n = 24) had checked the CRAS against their own institutional LOs. Anatomists had shared CRAS with colleagues 64% (n = 32) and students at 34% (n = 17), respectively. Forty-six percent (n = 23) of anatomists reported having changed their teaching in some way because of CRAS. The focus groups generated four key themes: "support for CRAS," "standardization and validation," "professional identity," and "limitations and leverage." Overall CRAS has been well received and is establishing itself within the anatomical community as the new standard for anatomy teaching for medical students.